


Comfort

by Persiflage



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman, POV Phil Coulson, Protective Phil Coulson, Sexual Content, Skye Feels (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Skye's Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 17:51:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2782127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-2:10 tag fic in which Coulson and Skye begin to work out some stuff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tayryn/gifts), [Wolfsbride](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsbride/gifts).



> I wasn't planning on writing this AT ALL - but then the Muse ambushed me (as is her wont) - probably because of all the speculative conversations on Tumblr about Skye and Coulson's likely reactions to her powers.

It had been Skye's idea to have a memorial wall, like the SHIELD academies used to have, at the Playground, and Coulson could see no reason to argue with the suggestion. They designated a spot on the far wall of the canteen, and Antoine Triplett's plaque was the first to be hung at a rather solemn ceremony, that was then followed by a far more cheerful wake than Coulson had anticipated, but as Skye reminded him, Trip had been a man who 'seemed to be made of sunshine', and he couldn't argue with her.

He stayed for about half an hour to be polite, then slipped back to his office. It wasn't that he didn't want to remember Trip, but that he felt such guilt for not doing more to protect his team as he should have done: Trip was dead because of him, because he'd been so insistent on finding the city before Whitehall, and Skye – well, they still weren't entirely sure what had happened to her, but he'd known how much she'd hated the idea of going to city, and he'd done his best to keep her away, without success.

He was staring sightlessly at an open file, his mind going round and round in endless circles, when he heard the office door close, and when he looked up, there was Skye leaning back against the door with an inscrutable look in her eyes.

"Hiding away, Director?" she asked. 

"Trying to do some of this endless paperwork," he said quickly.

"Mmm. I can see just how much work you're getting done." She crossed the room to stand beside him, and after only a momentary hesitation, put her hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, you know," she said softly.

"I – "

She cut him off ruthlessly. "No, Coulson, it wasn't _your_ fault. Trip knew what he was doing when he came back down into the city to dismantle the bombs. Just as I knew what I was doing when I went down after Raina and the Obelisk. We're SHIELD, not HYDRA – which means we made our own decisions about what to do – Trip and I both wanted to help other people, because that's what SHIELD does. We don't brainwash people and make them do our bidding, we give people the tools and training and skills to try to make the world a better place."

"But I set you on that path," he said.

She tightened her grip on his shoulder and turned him in his chair towards her, then reached out with her right hand and clasped his chin, tilting his head up to look her in the eyes. "Phillip J Coulson, you know that's not true. I told you what my father told me – my feet were on this path from the moment I was born which, in case you've forgotten, was 24 years before I even met you. _You_ had almost nothing to do with what happened to me. If Ward hadn't taken me off the Bus as a way to try to curry favour with Cal, then my father would've found another way to get me to San Juan. If you want to blame anyone for me being in that chamber in the city, blame the two of them."

"Skye." He could feel tears stinging the back of his eyes and he blinked, trying to hold them back.

"I mean it, AC," she said softly, reverting to her old nickname for him. "You are wasting your energy blaming yourself and feeling guilty for what happened to either Trip or me."

She let go of him, then patted his shoulder, and he reached up to clasp her hand, then lifted it from his shoulder and squeezed her fingers carefully. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

She shook her head, her expression one of fond exasperation. "You need to stop with the guilt trips, Coulson. You have known me for quite long enough to know that when I make up my mind to do something, I do it."

He chuckled weakly, remembering a similar remark being made to Fitz after Skye had been shot by Ian Quinn. He was still holding her hand, he realised, and he stood up, then carefully slipped his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around him very quickly, as if she'd been waiting for this opportunity – not that they hadn't hugged after the chamber had opened and he'd found her safe inside, if looking very shaken, and not just because of the death of her team mate. That hug had been very brief, though – the city had been shaking violently still, and Coulson had been anxious to get Skye out of there, and Mack too.

"There's something I need to ask you," she said after several long moments, her voice muffled against his neck.

"What?"

"Why did you come into the tunnels after me?"

He was surprised it had taken her three days to ask him that – somehow he'd expected the question to come sooner.

"Because I wanted to get you out of there," he said.

"But you had no backup, almost no weapons, no comms – and you knew Mack was down there, and that he'd been possessed by something immensely powerful." She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "And my father had beaten you half-senseless, too. So what good did you think you were going to do?"

He sighed, then closed his eyes and buried his face in the side of her neck. "I thought you were going to die down there," he said. "And I didn't want you to die alone."

"That was a very stupid thing for _Director Coulson_ to do," she said, and he pulled back sharply, ready to glare at her, but she smiled at him, then added, "But it was a very sweet thing for Phil Coulson to do."

He felt his ears burn and realised that he didn't know where to look. Then her hand was on his cheek, and she turned his face towards hers, before leaning in to kiss him softly on the mouth.

He didn't stop to think, he simply kissed her back, sweeping his tongue over her lips until she opened her mouth under his. He tightened his arms around her, sliding one hand down her back to press her body more firmly against his as they kissed hungrily.

They had to stop to catch their breath eventually, and when they did, Skye was giving him the smuggest look he'd ever seen on her face.

"It's just as I thought," she told him.

"What?" 

"Only an idiot in love would try to die with the woman he loved."

His ears burned again. "Skye," he said.

She chuckled, brushing her nose against his. "Relax, Phil. You're not the only idiot in love in this room."

He pulled back to look at her, and saw she was entirely serious. "That's a relief," he said quietly. "Now that we've established that, what do you want to do about it?"

It was Skye's turn to pull back – she kept her hands joined at the back of his neck, but she eased herself back enough to look him in the eyes as she asked, "What do you want to do about it?" she asked. "After all, you're the Director and I'm your junior agent."

"I could make you Co-Director," he said.

She blinked, then stared. "You're serious."

"Of course I'm serious," he said immediately. "You don't think I go around offering to make people Co-Director on a whim, do you?"

"Well, no," she agreed, "but – " She frowned. "How long have been thinking about this?"

He shrugged. "Since we came here." 

She looked shocked, he thought. "I don't know what to say," she said. 

He felt a pang of disappointment and hoped she couldn't see that in his face. "You don't have to say anything right now," he told her. "Think about it, then give me your answer."

She nodded, then asked, "But what about us?"

"What do you want to do?" he asked again. "Because I know what I want to do – but I do not want you to feel coerced or obligated in any way to – "

She cut him off with a hungry kiss, her hands unfastening his shirt buttons with a speed that startled him, then her right hand dropped lower and cupped him through his pants. He was only half hard when her hand landed on him, but she began stroking him while continuing to kiss him, and it hardly took any time at all for him to respond.

"I think we should go to your room," she said, her voice low and seductive.

"Mmhmm." 

Somehow a more articulate response eluded him at the moment, but Skye didn't seem to mind. She grabbed the ends of his tie and tugged gently, and his eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't hesitate to follow her as she led the way out of his office and long the hall to his quarters, which was only a short distance fortunately.

He fumbled with the lock on the door and managed to get it engaged, then Skye was leading him across the room to his bed. She pushed against his chest and he sat down immediately, then moaned when she climbed onto the bed, straddling his lap.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson was pulled out of a deep sleep by the realisation that his bed was shaking, and not in a good way. He opened his eyes and immediately realised that Skye was thrashing about on the bed, apparently in the throes of a nightmare, but that didn't explain the shaking bed.

He reached out and snapped on the light beside the bed, then put his hand on her arm and shook her.

"Skye. Skye!" 

She jerked awake, striking out at him, and he caught her wrists in his hands, calling her name repeatedly.

"Phil?" she said, then frowned. "Why's the bed shaking?"

He shook his head. "A really localised earthquake, apparently."

She gave him a horrified look, then scrambled away from him across the bed to sit in the corner at the head of the bed: her arms wrapped around her knees, which were bent in front of her.

"Skye? What's wrong?" he asked gently, reaching out for her again.

"Don't touch me!" she gasped.

He stopped, his hands just above her arms. "What's wrong?"

"The quake – it's me," she said.

He frowned at her. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, it does," she contradicted him immediately. "It was me that caused the quake in San Juan."

His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

She swallowed, then said, "It's part of my powers. When I broke free of my – of my metamorphic cocoon, I started the quake."

He shook his head, trying, in his half asleep state, to make sense of what she was saying. "How do you know it was you, and not just a result of the Diviner opening?"

"I don't know, okay? I just do." She sounded really frustrated, and the bed tremored again.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately. "I'm just trying to make sense of this situation." He wanted to touch her, to comfort her, and he lowered his hands slowly to her shoulders. She allowed the touch, then burst into tears, and he shifted closer, gently pulling her body against his.

"What were you dreaming about?" he asked softly.

"The city. The chamber. Trip," she sobbed.

"Oh Skye." She uncurled, and he wrapped his arms around her, then encouraged her to lie back down again, pulling the covers back over them since it was chilly.

"It's okay," he said softly. "I've got you, you're safe. You do feel safe here, don't you?" He was suddenly worried that she might not.

"Yeah." Her sobs were subsiding.

"Good." 

He stroked her back, and heard her breathing even out, until she fell asleep again. He lay awake for some time longer, thinking about what had happened, and what she'd told him of her conversation with her father. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to have to let her go and see her father. He wasn't afraid of Skye – but he suspected that some of the others would find it harder to be relaxed at the thought that Skye could cause earthquakes, particularly if, as he suspected, they were caused by heightened emotions. 

He couldn't pretend he liked the idea of sending Skye to her father – the man hadn't struck him as terribly stable on the two occasions on which they'd met – but at the same time, he knew that Cal would be better able to help Skye than Coulson himself, and he didn't want Skye to cut her father out of her life altogether, not after all this time. He knew she was more than capable of living without him in her life, she'd managed to do so for long enough, but at the same time, her father was still alive, and he obviously cared for her in his own strange ways. 

The thought of not having Skye around, of not working with her, or spending time with her, especially now that they'd admitted their feelings for each other, was a very painful one, but he also knew he had no right to try to stand in her way. She would never forgive him if he did, any more than he'd forgive himself.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

It was nearly dawn when she woke him a second time, but this time he pulled her into his arms and held her as he woke her from the nightmare. The bed had been shaking more violently this time, and he thought he'd heard something fall over on the other side of the room, but it wasn't important for the moment.

"I'm sorry," she whispered once she realised what had happened.

"It's not your fault," he said quietly. "You didn't ask for this." He stroked her hair back off her face. "I think you should find your father and ask him to help you."

She stiffened. "You're sending me away."

"Skye, I am absolutely not sending you away. I just think your father's the best person to help you learn how to deal with your powers, whatever they are. If I thought I could help you, I wouldn't hesitate to do so, but for all the time I spent working with the Avengers Initiative, I don't know anything about having powers. If you don't want to see your father, I can reach out to some of the Avengers, and ask them to help you, but I actually think Cal is the best person for the job. For all he's unstable, he does seem to genuinely care about you."

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course you can," he said immediately. "I am not going to send you away, Skye. Ever. It would be very hard for me if you left – both personally and professionally – but I want what's best for you, and I believe Cal does too."

"Yeah." 

The word came out so quietly he almost didn't hear it, and he had a sudden premonition that Skye would go to her father for help. He kissed her forehead, then the corner of her mouth, and she responded immediately, pushing him onto his back so that she could lie on top of him, the heat of her sex pressed against his cock. He groaned quietly at the sensation and she kissed him passionately, shifting her hips constantly until he was rock hard, whereupon she guided his cock inside her and began to rock against him.

"Skye." Her name was drawn out of him in a lengthy moan that made her smirk at him, and he almost rolled his eyes. It wasn't as if he hadn't extensively demonstrated last night just how unravelled she made him feel.

She collapsed on top of him when they were done, and he slid his arms around her, then rolled them onto their sides, face to face in the brightening light.

"Better?" he asked tenderly.

"Yeah." 

She kissed him softly, then tucked herself more closely against him, and he felt himself drifting into a doze when she said, "You're right."

"'bout what?" he asked sleepily.

"My father." She tightened her arms around him. "He would probably be the best person to help me."

"It's your choice, Skye," he told her. "It always has been. And whatever you decide, I'll stand by you. And I want you to know there'll always be a place here for you when you're ready to come back."

"Thank you." 

He kissed her forehead. "Try to get some more sleep," he said quietly.

"Mmm." 

Within a few minutes she was breathing evenly again, and he sighed, wishing things had fallen out differently back in San Juan. It was pointless wishing, though, and he knew that all he could do was support her in whatever decisions she made, and hope that she would come back to him sooner rather than later. 

His last thought as he fell asleep was to wonder if Skye would take a superhero name.


End file.
